Empire Reforged

The Legacy of Joryn

Eladrin

The eladrin, also known as the eldarin or Eldar in the ancient Sylvan dialect, have been a part of Impernia since before humans landed on it’s southern shores. Along with the elves of Sylvandras, they rule and protect the Crystal Veil

History

No one, not even the sage of the eladrin, know when Quelinas made it’s first transference to Impernia. What is known is that they fell in love with the unspoiled vista of Crystal Veil Lake and the primeval trees of Crystal Veil Woods, all of it reminding them of their native Feywild.

Some of the initial eladrin chose to remain in the Crystal Veil, rather than travel back to the Feywild. Those eladrin who stayed behind began to change, both physically and culturally, over the centuries and called themselves the elvarin. The eladrin looked upon the elves with sadness, for their cousins had forsaken the grace and beauty of their ancestry and instead became wilder, much like the creatures they shared the forest with.

During the time between their first arrival to Impernia and their initial contact with the humans of Joryn, the eladrin spent much of their time exploring the world beyond the Crystal Veil. Although the rest of the land was just as untouched as that of the Veil, it did not hold the same magic for the eladrin. Between the relative lack of interest in other regions and the lack of desire to build an empire, the eladrin chose to focus their attention around the city.

During their exploration of Impernia, the eladrin travelers encountered the halflings before any of the other native races. At the time of their meeting, the halflings were only just beginning to enjoy the benefits of civilization, living in simple structures and still working with barter as an economic system. The eladrin were unimpressed at first, seeing them as only one step above the wild animals that roamed the surrounding lands. Then they had their first taste of halfling wine. Until that point, the eladrin had no experience with fermented drinks. The difference between grapes and wine was astounding to them. Soon, both the eladrin and the elves were making semi-regular trips to the halfling settlements to trade for their wine as well as share their own knowledges and in essence, helping to guide the development of halfling civilization.

Their first contact with the dwarves was less cordial. While exploring a dense forest on the slopes of the Northern Range, a small group of eladrin scouts stumbled across one of the many clan holdings that were scattered throughout the mountains. Mistaking the beings for primitives living among the rocks and trees, the eladrin tried to impress them with their magic. The eladrin, unknowing of the dwarves’ distaste for the arcane, gained the ire of some of the elders and found themselves surrounded by an angry clan of dwarves. Through more use of their abilities, they managed to escape but not without further consequences.

Two months later, to the surprise of the eladrin, and well-armed army of dwarves stood on the shores of Crystal Veil Lake when Quelinas made it’s regular return to Impernia. The dwarves could not realistically lay seige to the city with it so far from the shore but they would make life beyond the city difficult for the eladrin.

For the next four years, the dwarves would harry the eladrin along their mundane travel routes, the eladrin would strike back with shows of arcane prowess, and the elves would execute hit and run strikes against dwarven encampments. The brushfire skirmishes built a death count that rivaled full-scale warfare.

All of the turmoil came to a head when the eladrin slew the High King’s son in combat and as a result, lost one of their revered magisters to the dwarven retaliation. Both sides met under a flag of truce at the edge of the Crystal Veil Woods to put an end to the conflict. The eladrin explained their regret for the initial events that transpired in the clan holdfast and the dwarves apologized for their knee jerk reaction to the use of arcane magic.

Though both sides left the treaty with distrust, both understood that the events that lead to the war were a series of misunderstandings. Still, the dwarves legendary habit of bearing grudges has kept relations tense between the Crystal Veil and Stonegaard.

Centuries later, a new race made it’s appearance on Impernia. The elves had reported sighting the men of Joryn setting up camps and pallisades across the river from the forest’s edge. More cautious after their incident with the dwarves, the eladrin watched the humans from elven-made blinds. They had discovered early on that the humans were capable of protecting against scrying, serving only to futher pique the curiosity of the eladrin.

When the elves realized that the humans intended to cut into their precious forest for lumber, they rushed to intervene. The eladrin joined their entourage to greet and hopefully redirect the humans away from the Crystal Veil. To the delight of the fey, the humans were much more open to receiving them into their camps than the dwarves had been.

The elves and eladrin agreed to supply humans with lumber as long as they stayed out of the Crystal Veil without permission from either group. Many of the people were more than happy with this arrangement, as they were fearful of the dark and mysterious forest. Joryn, knowing that it would make his people happy to stay away and would avoid raising the ire of thier new neighbors, agreed.

Over the years, the eladrin maintained a cordial relationship with the humans, even after their War of Lineage. Relations with New Joryn became strained as the people of the Empire grew to distrust arcane magic after the war. Ironcrest was much closer, incorporating the eladrin teachings of magic into their society and military.

Culture

To the other races of Impernia, the eladrin are the epitome of poise and grace. Those individuals who know them better know them to be a fickle race, changing fashion, arrangements, and relationships on a whim. Shrewd negotiators make sure to word contracts and other arrangments carefully to avoid abrupt changes in the future. Although the eladrin are unpredictable, they will obey the letter of any agreement if not the spirit.

The eladrin are tied more to the magical energies of the Feywild than they are with the primal nature of the plane. However their skill with magic is more innate rather than studied, as the humans ability with magic is. Still, they do study magic but with a much more philosophical and hands-on mindset rather than academic.

They still have a love and respect for the wilds and their architecture is usually designed to accentuate the beauty rathern than impose itself or blend in. Graceful, sweeping structures in vibrant colors that complement the deep greens that pervade the Feywild. Like their architecture, the eladrin clothing serves to stand out. Burnished gold, deep red, and silver are popular colors though earth tones are also a common sight.

Due the limited amount of living space within Quelinas, the eladrin practice a form of population control. Each family is limited to one or two children depending on the current situation of paired eladrin. Also dependent on the need to maintain a steady population, magic is used to ensure that a given birth is male or female. It is not uncommon for particular families to be either patriarchal or matriarchal in nature. Because of these practices, arranged marriages are not unheard of but not enforced.

Religion

Unaligned Deities

Corellon Larethian – god of all eladrin, as well as magic, music, arts, crafts, warfare and poetry